I am convinced that stem cell research means we Baby Boomers will be the last generation to have to watch our parents die of Alzheimer's or watch our children die prematurely of sickle cell disease. Proposition 71 set this research in motion. Now we have to make sure this research keeps moving forward.

It wasn't creative self-doubt. It was personal. What was I doing with my time? How could I measure what I had accomplished? I didn't have any of the traditional ways to judge myself and my work. By all the societal standards of success today, I had failed -- or at least, I hadn't yet succeeded.

One of the hidden strengths of the nonprofit world is our ability to come up with a great idea that, because of its compelling emotional logic, allows people to change the way they view a situation --- and, in doing so, make a big collective impact.

What many have discovered, and what I have glimpses of from time to time, is that lasting happiness is virtually impossible when it is tied to arriving at a destination. At the end of the day, it's all in the journey. That is the sweet spot. That is where true happiness lies.

Shriver's tribute to California's Paid Family Leave law stands on its own. Signed into law in 2002 and implemented in 2004, it allows most employed Californians to take up to six weeks per year of leave from their job and receive up to 55 percent of their wages, up to a maximum.

Mindsets are more critical than you may think. They are the implicit theories we hold about the way the world works. Furthermore, they govern our attitudes and our behavior. When expectations are out of sync with reality you get anger, disappointment, depression and guilt, just to name a few.